Friction-clutch.



C. E. VAN AUKEN. FRIGTION CLUTCH.

APPLIGATION FILED 00T. 16,1908.

Witnesses. In ventor. y; CZ rence JET Vn,

CLARENCE E. .VAN ,AUKEN, OF BRIDGEICRT, CONNECTICUT.

FRICTION-CIJUTCI-I.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application led October V16, 1908. Serial No. 457,991.

To all whom tmc/y concern.'

Be it known that I, 'CLARENCE E. VAN AUKEN, awcitizen yof the United States, residing in Bridgeport, inthe county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have-invented certain new and Vuseful Improvements in Friction-Clutches, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention relates to clutches and has for an object to provide improved means for bringing cooperative faces of a clutch into Working engagement and for automatically maintaining such clutching engagement.

'In a structure -embodying this improvement one member of the clutch vwill be provided with an internal friction face and the other memberwill ybe provided with an eX- ternal friction face carried by members, as for instance iingers'elastically yieldable outwardly, each of which ngers upon itsinner side will carry one portion .of a ball race disposed -at an angle to the path of revolution of the fingers, and the other member, which may be rotatable with the driving shaft, will have the' other portions of the ball races disposed at an opposite angle. These .races will also be disposed at an angle to the aXis of theirrevolution. By means of va ball placed in each of these races the torque `of the driving member, which may be ythe shaft, will effect and maintain .the tightening together of the clutch faces. The initial tightening .may be produced by a longitudinal movement of the shaft orone of the 'members thereon. After this initial tightening the members will .be "held together 'by the torque upon v.the parts and will automatically release `themselves Vfrom clutching engagement upon the cessation of the torque.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Figure l shows a driving shaft in elevation, one element, the passizfe, of :a friction clutch and the pulley in central longitudinal section. and the other, oractive, element of the fricl tion clutch, comprising two members which are partly in central longitudinal section and partly on a plane at anangle of about forty- -five degrees to the aXis of the shaft; this viewshows `the members in `uncoupled relation. fFig. 2 is a perspective view of the parts shown inFig. l with the exceptionof the pulley which is omitted, and shows the parts in coupled relation. Figs. 3 and 4 are perspective views ofthe members fconstituting the active-'element of v*the clutch.

The friction vclutchfa `form :of Ywhich is herein' illustrated, pronides Va quick acting and strong connection between yrotary machine Vparts, and one where the torque produced bythe load'will operate to maintain an effectivel frictional engagement between the parts.

In the following detailed description of the present illustration a line shaft at 5, which for convenience will be assumed to be normally in rotation, is the power or driving member upon which is a pulley 6, which pulley at times may be driven from the shaft 5 vand 4at other times may be permitted to remain inactive with relation -to the line shaft. The pulley is shown `keyed to a hub 7 of one member 8 lof the friction clutch, which member is illustrated as the :passive member. This member 8 is provided with a chamber, the inner iwgall 9 of-Which constitutes a vfriction face. This wall in the present instance 'is shown :as of cylindrical formation parallel-with the axis of rotation of the shaft; this, however, is a detail of construction. The bottom or end face 10 of the chamber in 'the member 8 Iconstitutes a stop face, the purpose of 'which will be descrlbed.

The active member of the friction clut-ch embodies a pair of members 30 and 40 respectively. The member 30 is shown vprovided -with a splineway or groove 3l for receiving a spline V32 on the shaft .5. This will permit longitudinal movement of the member'SO'while the same is-caused to rotate with the shaft. Collars 5l and :52 .are mounted upon the shaft :to prevent @undue longitudinal movement of the hub 7 and of the memb 30. There member 40 is mounted outside of and is free to have Va certain amount of longitudinal movement relative tothe member 30. The member 30 is provided at a portion of its outer periphery with a series of grooves 33 each of which is disposed at an angle of about fortyve degrees t'o the path of revolution of the said periphery, andthe bottom 34 of each groove inclincs at an angle tothe axis of said revolution, the latter .angle inclincs the grooves inwardly toward ythe end which is directed toward thebottom 10 of the chamber ofthe member 8; fand the former angle directs such end toward the direction kof said revo- ICO rfriction face 45.

lution. The portion of the member 40 which surrounds the splined member 30 is in the form of a number of spring fingers separated by slots 4i,which slots extend into the reduced portion 46 of the member 40. The inner perimeter of this member 40, that is the inner face of the fingers, is provided with a series of grooves 42 disposed at an angle to the path of revolution of the fingers and inclined at an angle opposite to that of the grooves upon the member 30; two grooves are shown in each finger. The bottoms 43 of the grooves 42 incline inwardly toward the axis of revolution. The groove bottoms 43 are substantially parallel with the groove bottoms v34. Each of the grooves 33 constitutes one member of a ball race, and each of such ball race members will cooperate with a groove from the series of grooves 42 which comprise mating ball race members. A ball ll is mounted in each of the raceways formed between the mating grooves 33-42. The balls in the races are prevented from a too great movement by means of rings 44 and 35 carried by suitable grooves in the members 40 and 30- respectively.

The outer perimeter 45 of the member 40 at the portion entering into the s ring fingers is illustrated substantially cy indrical affording a friction clutch face for engaging the substantially cylindrical face 9 of the member 8 upon the outward flexing of the fingers carrying such clutch face. The fingers are flexed outwardly upon the movement of the member 30 into the member 40, which will cause the balls to ride up on the faces 34 and 43, thus expanding out the The member 30 has a circumferential groove 55 for receiving an actuator for moving the member 30 longitudinally of the shaft and relatively to the member 40.

The operation of the device is substantially as follows: Assuming that the shaft 5 is rotating in the direction of the arrow and the parts are in the position illustrated in Fig. l, when it is desired to start the pulley 6 rotating, the member 30 will be shifted toward the right in Fig. 1 and the balls will roll up the inclined faces 34 which constitute the bottoms of the grooves 33 and will be forced down as it were along the bottoms 43 of the grooves 42, which movement of the member 3() will not only cause a slight movement of the member 40 relative to the member 30, but will also expand the clutch face 45 by flexing the fingers outwardly. In such independent movement of the member 40 it will engage the abutment face 10 when its movement will be stopped and the faces 45 and 9 will be brought into clutching frictional engagement. The .torque produced by the load upon the pulley will augment clutching faces and will maintain such clutching engagement until the load is taken off or the member 30 is positively moved in a reverse direction, that is toward the left in Fig. l.

The present improvement may advantageously be used when it is desired to prevent a rotary member, as for instance a shaft, from rotating another part except when such rotary member rotates in the proper' direction. t is well known that in certain constructions a shaft may, through inadvertence or perhaps design, be rotated in a reverse direction from the proper driving direction, i/Vhen the present friction clutch is inserted between such a shaft and a pulley, for instance, the pulley will only be driven when the shaft is rotating in the predetermined forward direction.

Upon the cessation of the torque the parts will have a tendency to separate, the fingers, having been flexed out of their normal position and having a springing tendency to return to such position, will roll the balls in the opposite direction to their friction producing movement as soon as the screwing and thrusting tendency dueto the torque is relieved.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

l. A friction clutch embodying a rotary member provided with a series of sprin fingers constituting upon their outer si es a friction clutch face and each finger having on its inner side a member of a ball race disposed at an angle to the path of revolution of said fingers and at an angle to the axis of revolution, of a member having mating ball race members and axially shiftable relative to the fingers, a ball in each of said races, and a member having a friction clutch face surrounding and coperative with the clutch face upon said fingers.

2. The combination with a rotary member having a friction clutch face concentric with its axis of rotation, of a rotary member shiftable axially relative to said first mentioned member and having a friction clutch face cooperative with the friction clutch face on the said first mentioned member and embodying a series of fingers each provided upon one side with a friction face and upon the other side with an actuator engaging face disposed at an angle to the path of revolution of the clutch face, and an actuator shiftable axially relative to said fingers for engaging said actuator engaging faces and expanding the fingers.

3. The combination with a shaft, of a member splined thereon and provided with spirally disposed ball races slanting inwardly, of an expansible member surrounding the same and provided with ball races disposed in' an opposite spiral and similarly slanting the frictional engagement between the inwardly and having upon its outer face a friction surface, a ball in each of said races, and a pulley mounted free upon said shaft and having a friction face surrounding said friction surface.

4. The combination With a shaft, of a member splined to said shaft and having on its perimeter a series of grooves each disposed at an angle of about forty-five degrees to the circumferential line of said perimeter, an eXpansible member surrounding said splined member and having in its inner perimeter a series of grooves each disposed at an angle opposite in direction to that of the grooves in the splined member, the bottoms of the grooves of at least one of the series being inclined at an angle to the axis of the shaft, said surrounding member having on its outer perimeter a friction face, a pulley, and a member freely mounted upon the shaft and carrying the pulley and provided With an internal friction face cooperative with the said external friction face.

5. The combination With a shaft, of a member mounted on said shaft for longitudinal movement thereon and having in its perimeter a series of grooves, each disposed at an angle to the path of revolution of said perimeter, an eXpansible member surrounding said longitudinally movable member and having in its inner perimeter a series of grooves each disposed at an angle opposite in direction to that of the grooves in the longitudinally movable member, the bottoms of the grooves of at least one Vof the series being inclined at an angle to the axis of the shaft, said surrounding member having on its outer perimeter a friction face, a pulley, and

a member carrying said pulley mounted upon said shaft and provided With an internal friction face cooperative with the said eX- ternal friction face.

CLARENCE E. 4 VAN AUKEN.

Witnesses:

CHAs. LYON RUSLL, FRED. J DOLE. 

